The present invention relates to the field of message queues for a computer network, and more specifically, to storing messages of a message queue in a data storage system of a computer network.
In computer networks, message queues may be formed by storing messages in data storage systems. These data storage systems may be adapted to provide the ability for a plurality of queue managers (known as a queue sharing group) to access the same set of messages stored in the message queue. This provides a high level of availability, as more than one queue manager may process messages in a queue in parallel. A queue sharing group also allows for fault tolerance, as even if a number of queue managers fail, message data in the message queue is still accessible to at least one queue manager.
A particular processor, such as a coupling facility, may store a plurality of messages in a data storage system to form a message queue which may be accessed by a plurality of queue managers. A coupling facility may be a loosely coupled processor that is connectable to other processors or storage systems so as to enable the coupling facility to perform special or particular operations (for example, storage and provision of a shared message queue). In other words, a coupling facility may be considered to be a stand-alone processor which may be connected to one or more other processors via a high speed communication network (for example, Ethernet or a fiber optic network).
The coupling facility may store a message of a message queue as a list entry of a list defined in a memory of a data storage system of the coupling facility.